Kosovo becomes a member of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Kosovo's mountaineers have managed to climb a new peak. Only this time, it's not Mount Blanc or Kiliminjaro, but the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation where Kosovo was officially sworn in as a member country despite stark opposition from Serbia.

During the annual meeting held on October 8, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Kosovo's representatives Arben Lila and Teuta Bicaj were pleasantly surprised with UIAA's decision to accept Kosovo's federation amongst its international structures.

Following a failed attempt to join two years ago, Kosovo's delegation was hoping to obtain observer status. However, in an unexpected turn of events, with 23 votes in favor, three against and five abstanations, the UIAA welcomed Kosovo, offering full membership.

Switzerland was the first country to lobby for Kosovo's admission, while England and Italy followed suit, paving the way for other members to reconsider their stance. This is a landmark achievement as most sports federations can not participate or compete in international events due to membership problems.

Kosovo's Mountaineering and Climbing Federation is one of the most active sports institutions in the country, hosting weekly expeditions and sightseeing visits despite lack of funding and institutional support. You can learn more about the federation's next conquests at www.fbaku.org

Yami I agree with you a 100. In Albania they learn Italian and Greek with a vigor but totally disregard their own dialects thinking they are inferior. Unfortunately today many new foreign words are being added in into the standard Albanian such as english or italian or greek, but God forbid they add Geg words It is not a coincidence that almost all the communists were tosks and all the gegs were the nationalists. They were the ones wearing the Albanian Illyrian hats while the communists were wearing the slavic Star on their military hats. Its time to stand up to injustice as the geg dialects with its variants hold keys to Albanian history and the way language has developed. Enver Hoxha died along with his greek Tosk tainted language.

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Yami(para 6 viteve)

I am glad that Princi vogel will be published in the Geg dilecat. There is someone intelligent enough to stand up for the dilecat that is spoken by the majority of Albanians today. It is unfortunate that under communism there was an indoctrination program to teach albanians that the Geg dilecat was inferior to the tosk dilecat. Intellectuals who opposed Enver Hoxha were either jailed or executed. It is important that dilecats are not lost. For they tell the history of our language. There is no right or wrong language as Albanians are taught in schools. It would be nice if Kosova adopted its own dilecat since the tosk dilecat is not spoken in Kosova. Its time even for Albania to restore the Geg dilecat which was the official language of Albania before the communists changed it to their own. Communism died in Albania and so should the Tosk dilecat as a standard Albanian language. Even Tirona was a geg city. They spoke a dilecat similar to diber until the communists banned the northern dilecat after they took over. Time to respect the Geg dilecat and have people learn it as well in schools. Like we have many words in English we also have many words in North and south. Its time to make the Geg dilecat official too. If Tosk Albanians can learn many languages like Greek and Italian and Serbian. I dont see why they cant learn the Geg dilecat too.